


Established Protocol

by LiraelClayr007



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, SO MUCH FLUFF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-17 14:09:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18966811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiraelClayr007/pseuds/LiraelClayr007
Summary: "I know our situation isn’t normal, but Rose, I’m just--” He closes his eyes, and there’s that frustrated sound again. “I’m just trying to do things properly. Please.”Rose’s eyes go wide with realization. He’s courting me.





	Established Protocol

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadyPaigeC](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyPaigeC/gifts).



The Doctor takes Rose’s hand, tucks it into the crook of his elbow. “Let me walk you home?”

Rose giggles. “Um, Doctor, you know we’re in the TARDIS, right? We  _ are _ home.”

A frustrated noise gurgles somewhere in the Doctor’s throat as he runs the fingers of his free hand through his hair. “Rose. I took you to dinner on the cliffs of Belliseyedis, where three crescent moons hang over the violet seas below. We walked in the “enchanted” forest--I say enchanted, not because it’s actually enchanted of course, but because that’s what the locals call it. Although  _ something _ looked rather enchanting there, in the moonlight…” He shakes his head. “Where was I? Ah yes. The “enchanted” forest on Katarallan. We walked there after our dinner, among the singing flowers and the glowing trees. And now we’re here. I know our situation isn’t normal, but Rose, I’m just--” He closes his eyes, and there’s that frustrated sound again. “I’m just trying to do things properly. Please.”

Rose’s eyes go wide with realization.  _ He’s  _ **_courting_ ** _ me. _

Well he’s right about one thing: there’s nothing normal about any of this. But maybe she can make it a little easier.

Smiling up at him through her lashes, Rose bites her lower lip. “Walk me home, Doctor?” she says, almost shy.

He  _ must _ see through her act, but still the back of his neck turns a lovely shade of pink. He rushes to cover it with his free hand, grinning but avoiding her eyes.  _ Superior biology indeed _ , Rose thinks, and has to fight to keep from giggling.

As they walk through the doorway Rose brushes her hand against a coral strut. She sends a mental ping to the TARDIS, pleading for her room to be farther away than normal. It doesn’t always work, this telepathic communication with the timeship, but it’s worth a go. And it usually helps when she wants something very badly.

Like now.

But her room is just where it usually is--left, left, right, left, right, then third door on the right--and it seems like only moments after they start out the Doctor says, “Well, here we are then. Good night, Rose.” He stands there for a long moment, just gazing into her eyes, then turns and walks away.

Something leaps inside her, and without thinking she shouts, “Doctor!”

He turns back, his face the very picture of barely contained hope.

Frantically she searches for something to say. Anything at all to keep him with her for a few more moments.  _ The forest was lovely. What was it that made the flowers sing again? Are there places with more moons in the sky? Is there somewhere we can swim in moonlit waters? That was the best strawberry shortcake I’ve ever eaten, even if those weren’t exactly strawberries and that wasn’t exactly shortcake. _ Instead she blurts out, “You can’t just leave me here you know. When you walk a girl home, you’re supposed to give her a goodnight kiss.”

Panic surges through her. Why did she say  _ that _ ?

Taking a careful, measured step toward her he says, “That’s the proper thing to do, then? Because I wouldn’t want to walk away without following the established protocol.”

Is he actually going to kiss her? A kiss just because he wants to, not because there’s an emergency, or because they’re undercover? A real, true, Rose-and-the-Doctor kiss?

“Oh yes,” says Rose, her voice grave. “Right proper.” More than anything she wants to run to him, but she wills her feet to keep still, to wait for him to come to her. His advance is slow, cautious step by cautious step, but soon they are only a heartbeat apart, and when the Doctor pauses it’s like time itself holds its breath with anticipation. Rose can see the question in his eyes, and hopes he can read the answer in hers.

Yes, she says with her eyes. Yes, my Doctor. Always yes.

He must understand because before her heart can beat again his lips are on hers; not crushing or controling, but soft as rose petals. At first it’s only their lips that touch, but soon his hands are in her hair and hers are on his chest, on his back, exploring contours of his body she’s only imagined in the past. She pulls his body closer to hers, arms tight around his chest, and he makes a sort of groaning noise into her mouth. Simultaneously she thinks,  _ That sound should be illegal _ , and  _ How can I make him do that again? _

When they stop to breathe, both of them nearly gasping for breath, neither of them says anything for long moments. Then the Doctor grins. “Yeah?” he says.

“Yeah,” Rose says, grinning right back.

He takes her hand, and they are adrift in a universe of time.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Happy (late) birthday to the lovely LadyPaigeC!!! Hope you enjoy your bit of silly fluff! ☺️


End file.
